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Report ok tiik Committkk Appointed to ^Memorfamze Con- 
gress AND State Legisi-atlres regarding tub Cultiva- 
tion of Timuer and the Preservation oe Forests. 

The Special Committee tippointed at the twenty-second meet- 
ing of this Association, to memorialize Congress an<l State Legis- 
latures regarding the cultivation of timber and the preservation 
of forests, would respectfully report: — 

That a bill, identical in its provisions with that prepared by the 
Sub-committee mentioned in our report at the Hartford meeting, 
and which had been favorably received by the House Committee 
upon Public Lands, in the Forty-third Congress, was again intro- 
duced upon the motion of the Honorable Mark H. Dunnell, of 
Minnesota, early in the first session of the Forty-fourth Congress, 
and received the same reference as before. 

The Chairman of j'our Committee now reporting was invited to 
present its claims before the House Committee upon the Public 
Lands, and the full time of one of their sessions was spent in 
considering its provisions. Although several of the members ex- 
pressed opinions favorable to the subject, the Committee made no 
report, and in view of the issues then pending, on the eve of a 
presidential election, it soon became apparent that the occasion 
would not be favorable for the inauguration of new measures. 

Upon this, an amendment embracing some of the features of 
the proposed bill was offered by Mr. Dunnell, and through his 
efforts was incorporated in an ai)propriation bill then pending, 
under which the Commissioner of Agriculture was directed to 
appoint a person to prepare a Report which was to be by him 
transmitted to Congress, — upon ''the amount of comsumption, 
importation and exportation of timber and otlier forest products — 
the probable supply for future wants — the means best adapted to 
the preservation and lenewal of forests — the influence of forests 

(3) 



4 



REPORT OP THE COMMITTEE ON 



upon climate — and the measures that have been snceessfiilly ap- 
plied in various countries for the preservation and restoration of 
forests." 

The bill embracing this provision became a law on the 15th day 
of August, 1876 ; and a few days after a commission was granted 
to Dr. Franklin B. Hough, one of the Committee now reporting, 
for the execution of this duty. 

No instructions were given, beyond those recited in the act, but 
in a conversation had with the Hon. Frederick Watts, then Com- 
missioner of Agriculture, the latter expressed the wish that the 
researches should be made as thorough and practicable as the 
means afforded would allow. 

Under this authority, various circulars were addressed to several 
classes of persons whose business or studies were thought to 
afford occasion for knowing facts of public interest having refer- 
ence to Forestry, and the replies received in answer to these 
evinced a general willingness, on the part of those addressed, to 
aid in the collection of information of practical value in their 
several lines of business, or fields of observation. Among the 
Bubjects of inquiry' were : — the production and use of charcoal for 
metallurgy, — the use of wood for ties and other purposes, by rail- 
roads, — the production and consumption of bark and other tanning 
materials, — the results of tree-planting in the prairie states, — 
exjieriments in the introduction of species not indigenous, and 
Btatements of the distribution, relative size, and abundance of 
native timber trees. 

With respect to the importation and exportation of forest pro- 
ducts, the Reports upon Commerce and Navigation, which have 
been published annually since the organization of the present 
government in 1789, afford all the statistics that we can ever 
expect to have ; and although changes in the headings of tables 
(sometimes made unavoidable by changes in the revenue laws), 
prevent some important commodities from appearing in continuous 
order through the whole period, these reports nevertheless afford 
the data for most instructive generalizations. The opportunity 
was improved to its fullest extent, and tables were carefully pre- 
pared, not onl}' showing 3'ear by 3'ear the statistics reported, but 
vaiious summaries by coasts and grand divisions, and by countries 
and colonies, with the view of ascertaining how these exports 
were affected by time, the exhaustion of material, or the opening 



TIIK ntESKKVATION OF KOUESTS. O 

up of new soinccs of supply, or of new forciuii iniiikcts, ov the 
chanjiing vicissitudes of liade, and the lUiclutiLing exigencies of 
supply and dentand. 

In respect to the measures adopteil for the maintenance of sup- 
plies in foreign countries by tiie cultivation of forests, inquiries 
were addressed to the Forest Administration of several European 
governments, and in every instance a courteous and sulJicient 
reply was received, cither in the way of written statements, or by 
the sending of documents affording the desired information, or 
by reference to oilicial rei)orts within reach. 

A circular in the German language was addressed to each of 
the Schools of Forestry, and Societies of Foresters in the coun- 
tries where that language is chiefl}' used. These embrace the 
greater number of these schools and societies that exist. From 
nearly every one of these replies were received, either as written 
memoranda, or printed reports, affording the facts desired. 

Early in December last, a Report was presented to the Honorable 
William G. LeDuc, now Connnissioner of Agriculture, and after 
due examination it was transmitted by him to the President, and 
laid before Congress. It was referred in each House to the Com- 
mittee u[)on Agriculture, the manuscript going first to the House 
of Kepresentatives. 

The House Committee, after spending several weeks in examin- 
ing the subject-matter and estimating its extent, and cost of pub- 
lication, unanimously re[)orted in favor of printing an edition of 
100,000 copies. Their estimates included the statistical portion, 
and fixed the size of the volume at 1,100 pages, which included an 
allowance for numerous graphic illustrations, chiefly relating to 
the tabular part. 

The Rei)oit then went before the House Committee upon Print- 
ing, where, from motives of economy, it was decided to omit for 
the present the statistical tables, and to limit the extent to 650 
pages. Under this restriction, the edition Avas fixed at 25,000 
copies, and in this form it passed the Senate Committees, and 
without further change was ordered for printing. 

The restrictions upon the extent of the volume rendered it nec- 
essary to omit altogether the articles upon Forest Administrations 
and upon Forest Associations in P2urope, and to condense other 
portions which were deemed essential to a satisfactory report. 
The law under which the appointment was made has not therefore 



6 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 

been fully complied with, and another Report will be presented at 
the next session of Congress, in which otlier subjects specified in 
the statute will receive attention. 

It may be proper upon this occasion to notice some points in 
reference to the cultivation of forests within the United States, 
and to compare the conditions existing here with those found in 
European countries where the greatest attention has been given 
to this subject. 

The lands devoted to forest culture in Europe may be divided 
into four classes, according to the tenure of their title : — 

1. Lands owned by the government, including in some conn- 
tries separate crown-estates, appanages assigned to members of 
royal families, and lands set apart for certain public uses. 

2. Lands belonging to communes and other local municipalities. 

3. The property' of churches, ecclesiastical establishments, and 
public institutions. 

4. Private estates. 

Among the first duties of an intelligent government is the pro- 
tection of its own property against waste, and the maintenance of 
its value. If it affords supplies needed in the public service, 
measures should be taken, if possible, for their renewal ; and in 
proportion as these supplies are essential to the public welfare, or 
difficult to procure from abroad in time of need, the task becomes 
one of great responsibility, and a proper subject of timely previ- 
sion and careful attention. 

Hence in every country in Europe where the government owns 
forest- lands, S3'stems of management, protection and renewal have 
been adopted to greater or less extent. These systems vary in 
different countries ; in some being little more than prohibitions 
against trespass and waste, while in others the}' include a most 
careful attention to every circumstance affecting the Avelfare of the 
growing forest-systems of inspection to insure strict adherence 
to the plans that ma}' take a century or more to mature, and the 
most thorough provision for renewal, when this growth shall have 
been taken off at its full period. 

In respect to the second and third of the classes we have men- 
tioned, the care bestowed b}' the forest administration varies ac- 
cording to circumstances ; in some cases amounting to absolute 
control, and in others to a mere general supervision of the local 
authorities in charge, and a consent to measures that they may 



THE rUESEIlVATION Of FOKESTS. 7 

propose. The woodlands belonging to comnnines and local public 
bodies are very often burdened witii rights of common nsage, orig- 
inating in ancient cnstoms or special grants, and more or less 
embarrassing to the forester. Tiie inhabitants of a connnune may 
Lave rights of pasturage, or of feeding swine, or of gathering 
leaves and acorns, or of cutting wood for building purposes or 
fuel ; and some of these wants viiist be supplied, or great hard- 
ship will be endured. • 

The management of these common rights renders it necessary 
to establish rules according to circumstances, and involves sys- 
tems of regulation that have no interest beyond the jurisdiction 
where the}' apply. In man}^ cases the government has found it 
necessary to terminate by purchase, or otherwise, certain common 
rights that interfere with the future welfare of a forest, such as 
those of pasturage, or the gathering of leaves, seeds, and fruits. 

As a general rule, the Forest Administration has no concern with 
private woodlands. To this there are a few exceptions, as, for 
example, where a belt of forest along a frontier is deemed neces- 
sary as a means of defense, or along a river liable to inundation, 
where materials should be at hand for repairing embankments. 
More recently, the fixing of sand-dunes, the erosion of torrents, 
the interception of violent winds, or the malarious emanations, 
and other cases affecting the general interest, or the public health, 
have come to be regarded as proper subjects of regulation b}' gov- 
ernment, although the lands ma}^ belong to private owners. 

But with these exceptions the owners of woodlands generally 
have the right to clear or plant as the}' please, unless forbidden 
on the ground that a public injury may ensue. The}' may deter- 
mine the species planted, fix the period of cutting to suit their 
own interest, and deal with their own as they may think proper, 
so long as it does not affect the rights of others. 

It has been remarked very generally, and in all countries, that 
individual proprietors are jealous of interference by public author- 
ity with the rights that they regard as their own ; and even where 
advanced ideas in respect to forest management prevail, as in 
Prussia, it is only within a very recent period that measures have 
been taken for restricting these rights, upon appeal to the public 
authorities, where the particular interests of others were con- 
cerned, and for uniting under one control the management of ad- 
jacent woodlands belonging to many private owners, although a 



8 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 

minoritj' in interest might dissent. In fact, the case is scarcely 
different with woodlands than with cultivated fields bearing annual 
crops, and it would doubtless prove as difficult to control the 
planting of private woodlands generally, as it would be to pre- 
scribe the kind of grain that should be sown in fields, or to regu- 
late the time of harvest. 

Turning from this view to the conditions that prevail with us, 
we find but two classes of landed property to consider, in relation 
to forest cwlture : — 

1. The Public Lands owned by the general government, and in 
some instances by states. 

2. Private Lands, including those granted to corporations, and 
managed by their trustees, being as fully under their control as if 
held b}' individuals. 

With respect to the Public Lands, the most that can be attempted 
at present, is to establish regulations for the prevention of waste, 
and perhaps systems of leasing, or of selling timber rights, as in 
Canada, — the title of the land still remaining with the govern- 
ment, with a remote and uncertain chance of its escaping fire and 
waste until another crop of timber shall have grown. Measures 
tending to ensure reproduction can readily be applied in such 
cases, and the most approved methods of restoration, as practiced 
in Europe, may be adopted — the main question to be considered 
being that of the cost, and the profit of the enterprise. 

It is also clearly within the power of government, in all future 
sales of timber lands, to annex a requirement, as a condition of 
the title, that a certain percentage shall forever be kept in wood- 
land. It may also, in selling prairie land, require that a part shall 
be planted with timber, and be kept forever devoted to this use. 
These conditions would be evidentl}'^ as valid as those in which 
mineral reservations are made and other conditions are imposed. 

As to placing any new restrictions upon lands already' held by 
private owners, this is wholly impracticable by any i)roceeding 
short of resumption of title under right of eminent domain, and 
payment to the owners of the full value. The re-purchase of land 
and its cultivation by the government as forest, would scarcely 
find favor with the statesmen of our day. 

Since forest products are bulky, and must necessarily reach the 
markets by water navigation, or by roads easily guarded, their 
exportation beyond the limits of a given district can be readily 



THE PRESERVATION OF FORESTS. » 

controlled. Against local use and waste, it is most difficult to 
provide, and Willi a public sentiment favoring this common use, 
laws, however stringent, can scaroely be enforced. 

As regards private lands, including lands in charge of directors 
or trustees, the future prospects of forest culture ap[)car to dei)end 
upon interest alone, and these owners will manage their estates as 
they find it to their present advantage or future profit. It is rea- 
sonable to suppose that the}' will be quite as jealous of this right 
as they have shown themselves to be in countries where less per- 
sonal freedom is enjoyed, and that the time is very remote in 
which any public authority may dictate when a given field shall be 
planted with timber trees, or when it shall be cleared. Fortunately 
we are whollv free from the embarrassment arising from rifj^hts of 
common usage that have so grievously tried the patience of Eu- 
ropean foresters, as the title of our private lands is absolutely 
vested in the owners. 

We regard the time as near, when the question of planting for 
profit will ver}^ generally engage the attention of the owners of land, 
not onl}' in the prairie regions, where the want of timber is among 
the first that is felt, but also in the older portions of the country, 
where the supply of woodlands was formerly in excess, and where 
habits of improvidence and waste must be discontinued, and 
methods of economy and prudent forethought must be learned. 

The discussions that have been had in Agricultural and Horti- 
cultural societies, and through the public press, have done some- 
thing, and should hereafter do much more, towards bringing this 
subject prominently into notice. In the State of Minnesota a 
State Forestry Association has been incorporated b}' law, and 
means have been placed at its disposal for stimulating competition 
b}'' way of premiums, — not forgetting in this to excite emulation 
among the children of the public schools, and rivahy between 
counties, in the work of forest tree planting, and the formation of 
avenues of shade trees along the highways. 

In many villages in Connecticut and other eastern states. Vil- 
lage Improvement Associations have been formed, in some of 
which the benefits sought are not limited to the material adorn- 
ment of their localities, but to certain other means of intellectual 
culture and social refinement, which tend so much to add enjo}'- 
ment to life, and to elevate and improve the condition of society 
generally. 



10 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 



The tendency of increasing prices in any class of commodities 
naturally leads to inquiries into the means by which the supply 
may be enlarged, and cannot fail to impress the important truth 
that seasonable provision should be made against coming wants. 
When this fact comes to be generally realized, we cannot but hope 
that the owners of land will see it to their interest to provide 
against future wants by timely investment in sylviculture, sufficient 
at least for their own use, and that incorporated companies will 
find in this an inviting field for investment for market-supply. 

In this work of promoting forest-culture, something may doubt- 
less be done by State governments, but rather in the way of inci- 
dental encouragement than by direct control. They can offer 
premiums to be dispensed by agricultural and other societies ; 
they can exempt planted woodlands from taxation, or from in- 
creased assessment on account of forest growth, and they can 
enact laws for protecting woodlands against careless fires and 
other avoidable injuries ; they can require and regulate the plant- 
ing of trees along the highways, and in places where the public 
interest demands ; they can provide for some instruction upon 
the principles and methods of sylviculture, to be taught in the 
public schools, and can aid the higher institutions of" the state 
in a more thorough course of instruction in this department of 
applied science ; they can establish experimental stations, and 
encourage or direct inquiries tending to the discovery and dissem- 
ination of knowledge of practical value, and they can provide 
general laws for the formation of companies for planting and im- 
proving waste lands by forest culture. 

In respect to Forestry as taught in special schools in Europe, 
we have to remark, that while everything relating to methods and 
-management,— the influences that favor or retard the growth of 
trees, or that aff-ect the quality of their wood,— and every means 
by which labor can be lightened, or profits increased, has immcr 
diate value to us. We have little to learn from their forest juris- 
prudence, their codes, or methods of administration, because their 
laws and circumstances are altogether different from ours. 

At present we could give no employment to a class of men 
having the qualifications of those that graduate at the first-class 
Forest academies. We need a more general practical knowledge 
among the greater number, rather than the higher special training 
of a few. 



THE PKKSERVATION OF FOUESTS. H 

Tlie experience of schools of F'orestry in Europe is not witliont 
interest to us, and we should avail ourselves of the lesson which 
it teaches without goin<; through 'the process of proving. 

In most cases these institutions are under the control of Govern- 
ment, and are intended to qualify candidates for the State Forest 
Service, in which, when once admitted after thorough iustruotion 
and due probation, they are sure of employment through life, with 
provision for support when their working days are over. In some 
cases, schools of lower grade are maintained by associations of 
land-proprietors for the litting of young men as foresters upon 
private estates, and as[)irants for this employment can generally 
gain admission to the government schools. In all of these insti- 
tutions practical labor in the nursery and the forest, frequent ex- 
cursions under the guidance of the professors, and occasional 
journeys for more varied and general observation, form a regular 
and necessary part of the course, and tend in eminent deo-iee to 
qualify the student for the practical application of the precepts of 
his lectures, and the lessons of the class-room. 

These schools may be divided into three classes : — 

1. Separate schools of Forestry, distinct from those givinfy 
other instruction, as at Neustadt-P:bers\valde and at Miinden in 
Prussia, and at Nancy in France. 

2. Schools of Agriculture and Forestry, as at Ilohenheim in 
Wurtemberg, and at the Imperial High School of Agriculture and 
F'orestry at Vienna. 

3. Separate departments of Forestry in Universities and Poly- 
technic institutions, as at the Polytechnic School at Zurich, and 
the Forest-Institute in the University of Giessen. 

The tendency in P^urope is apparently towaixls the abandonment 
of the first of these in favor of the second or third. Tims re- 
cently the Forest Academy at Mariabrunn, near Vienna, has been 
merged in the new institution we have just named in the Capital, 
and that at Aschaffenl)arg in Bavaria is being incorporated with 
the University of Munich. It is claimed by the advocates of this 
consolidation, that several of the branches of instruction required 
in the course upon Forestry, such as mathematics, chemistry, 
natural history, climatology, drawing, surveying, etc., are amply 
provided for in the University; that better laboratories, museums, 
and libraries, can be maintained and be made more widely useful 
in the larger institutions, and that the student while foUowiuir bis 



12 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 

special course, cannot fail of gaining a broader view of science by 
contact with what is going on around him, than he could if his 
horizon was bounded by the precincts of an isolated forest acad- 
emy. Moreover, the students in other branches of the University 
would get some knowledge of Forestry from what might come 
under their notice in that department, and the wider acquaintance 
thus formed would prove advantageous to all classes. A small 
number of special professors would be sufficient to equip any ex- 
isting University for this service, and a large saving would be 
realized in the general result. 

No school of Forestry has yet been established in Great Bri- 
tian. The government has hitherto arranged for sending to the 
schools in France or Germany such young men as aspire to em- 
ployment in the India service, but the measure has been strongly 
urged of adding to one or more of the existing universities the 
facilities needed for securing this instruction at home. The Rev. 
John Croumbie Brown, of Haddington, Scotland, has been particu- 
larly active in calling public attention to this important measure. 
We have, in our own country, the means for carrying this idea, as 
it may be adapted to our wants, into happy effect. Besides our 
colleges and universities, there is in every state of the Union a 
separate institution, or a department in one previously existing, 
in which, through the bounty of Congress, provision has been 
made for instruction in Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts ; and 
upon these should naturally devolve the task of giving such a 
course of practical instruction in sylviculture as may prove most 
useful to the country and best adapted to our national wants. 

There is not a college in the country in which a few practical 
lectures upon the importance of tree-culture, and some of the 
principles that should govern in the selection of kinds and their 
care and cultivation could not be given with advantage before the 
graduating class. The young men going out from these institu- 
tions become in greater or less degree centres of influence, and if 
impressed with the importance of the subject, they might in many 
ways promote the diffusion of correct ideas among those with 
whom they might come to dwell. 

It cannot be doubted but that the American farmer learns much 
from example. His ideas of domestic architecture, of improved 
methods of cultivation, of the value of new implements of hus- 
bandry, or in any departure from the routine of former ways, are 



THE PRESERVATION OF FORESTS. 13 

largely derived from what he sees in successful application around 
him. A good example becomes a model for his imilation, an<l in 
this way a neatly planted avenue of trees along the highway, or a 
thrifty and well kei)t grove, may often suggest the honelits that 
he can also enjoy, and so the example is re[)eated, to the manifest 
profit of the owner, and to tiie general good. 

Your couiiniltee has not hitherto attempted to memorialize the 
State governments upon the subject with which it is charged, 
deeming it as first desirable to collect information upon tiie exist- 
ing legislation of the several states, and to gather the results of 
experience as affording suggestions worthy of attention. The 
existing laws for the eucoiiraucment of tiee-culture in the different 
states are i)resented in lidl in the Congiessional Report above al- 
luded to (pages 200 to 213), and excei)ting those relating merely 
to the planting of trees by the roadside, or to the protection of 
trees planted for ornament, they may be briefly stated as follows : 
• In Illiiiois, the Board of Supervisors, or Court of County Com- 
missioners in any county, may otter a bounty of ten dollars per 
annum for three years for every acre planted with forest trees. 
They are not to be set more than ten feet apart, and must be kept 
properly cultivated. 

In Iowa, the sum of one hundred dollars per annum is ex- 
empted from taxation for ten years, for every acre of forest trees 
planted and cultivated, the trees being not over eight feet apart. 
The Board of Supervisors may increase the exemption to 500 dol- 
lars per acre, except for state taxes. 

In Maine, cleared land, if planted with forest trees, is exempted 
from taxation for tvvent}' years, the trees being set not less than 
2,000 to the acre, and kept in thriving condition. 

In Minnesota, a bount}- of two dollars per acre is offered for ten 
y^ears for planting forest trees (excepting the black locust) on 
prairie land, the total sum in one year not exceeding twenty thou- 
sand dollars in the state. 

In Missoti7-i, a like bountj- is offered for fifteen years, the allow- 
ance to begin three years after [)lanting, and the grove being kept in 
growing condition, certificates and proofs being renewed annually. 

In Nevada, a state bounty of ten dollars per acre for twent}' 
years is offered for planting done within ten years after the pas- 
sage of the act (of 1877), the payments commencing two years 
after planting. 



14 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PRESERVATION OP FORESTS. 

In Wisconsin, every land owner having five acres or more of 
land, who shall reserve from the natural growth, or who shall 
plant, not over a fifth part of the area in tree-belts, is exempted 
from taxation on lands thus occupied, until the trees become 
twelve feet high, and after tliat he is to have a premium of two 
dollars per annum per acre. The position and width of the belts, 
kinds of timber allowed, etc., are prescribed in the act. 

In Kansas and Nebraska, after an experience in the offering of 
bounties and exemption from taxation, the laws for this object 
have been repealed. We are not informed as to the reasons that 
led to the repeal in Kansas, but in Nebraska a revised constitution 
forbade all exemptions of private property from taxation, and thus 
rendered the previous law a nullit}'. It is, however, understood 
that opportunities for evasion and fradulent claims were too often 
afforded, and it was believed by some that the benefits of arbori- 
culture were so manifest that they did not need the stimulus of a 
reward. 

There are various questions affecting the interests of sylvicul- 
ture that come within the province of state legislation, and upon 
which uniformity is desirable. These will be duly considered by 
the Committee, and when agreed upon will be submitted as their 
recommendation to State Legislatures. 

Trusting that its proceedings thus far will meet the approval of 

the Association, the Committee respectfully asks for a continuance 

of its powers for the further prosecution of the labors with which 

it has been charged. 

Franklin B. Hough, 

For the Committee. 



From the Procealingi of the AmrHrnn A,»oHation for the Advancement oj Science; 

St. Louis Meeting, Augtft, 1878. 



REPORT' 



UPON 



FOEESTEY. 



From the Committee appointed to memorialize Congress and tub Statb i 

Legislatures, regarding the Cultivation ok Timuer and the 1 

Preservation of Forests. 




/ 

By FRANKLIN B. HOUGH, 

Chairman of the Committee. 



SALEM: 

PRINTED AT THE SALEU PRESS. 

1878. 



"IT 



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